Carbon Facts

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is a gas that is produced by burning fossil fuels like coal and oil.

Everyone produces carbon, even from daily activities such as as driving a car or boiling a kettle. The Council produces carbon from carrying out its daily business, for example by people using computers and commuting. The Council has measured its carbon footprint and is committed to continually reducing it.

Carbon is a called a "greenhouse gas" because it traps some of the light energy from the sun before it can escape into space, and this creates a warming effect. There are other greenhouse gasses such as nitrous oxide and methane, which all cause the earth's temperature to rise. This process has been occurring for many years, but recently humans have been releasing too much carbon into the atmosphere causing average temperatures to rise.